{"id":55732,"date":"2026-05-27T18:07:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=55732"},"modified":"2026-05-27T18:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:07:37","slug":"singapore-will-act-against-firms-that-accept-ai-grants-while-treating-workers-unfairly-jasmin-lau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=55732","title":{"rendered":"Singapore will act against firms that accept AI grants while treating workers unfairly: Jasmin Lau"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>SINGAPORE: Companies that repeatedly tap public grants to grow through artificial intelligence while treating workers unfairly could face government intervention, said Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Jasmin Lau, as Singapore pushes ahead with plans to become a global AI hub.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>She added that the government is watching to ensure gains from AI adoption are shared with workers, especially when taxpayer funds are involved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>\u201cWhen we spend public resources to help companies grow, then we want to have a bit more control over what the companies do,\u201d said Ms Lau, who co-chairs the Economic Strategy Review (ESR) committee on technology and innovation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>\u201cWhat we are looking for are patterns &#8211; if a company is constantly applying for and given grants, but workers are being removed without fair treatment. Then, when we start to see these patterns, we must act, because these are public funds that we are stewards of.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>Ms Lau was speaking to CNA\u00a0on the back of <\/span><span>the release of the five ESR committees\u2019 recommendations<\/span><span> earlier this month on how Singapore can steer its economy forward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>This followed nine months of consultations involving more than 7,700 stakeholders, including businesses, unions and workers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>The ESR\u2019s 32 recommendations\u00a0<\/span>aim to secure<span> long-term economic growth for Singapore and\u00a0<\/span>create go<span>od jobs amid rapid technological disruption.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>It recommended that Singapore position itself as\u00a0<\/span>a \u201clocation of choice\u201d w<span>here people can collaborate to develop innovative AI solutions, while ensuring workers are equipped with AI literacy and supported through career transitions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>Ms Lau acknowledged that companies will continue making commercial decisions, including cost-cutting measures, but warned against overly short-term thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>\u201cThe short-term desire to cut costs may end up affecting them later on when their company needs to think about further growth,\u201d she noted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span>\u201cPerhaps they&#8217;re looking now for staff who understand the business (and) domain, understand the business culture. They will not have such people anymore as their company tries to scale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.channelnewsasia.com\/singapore\/economic-strategy-review-jasmin-lau-ai-workers-young-singaporeans-6144256\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE: Companies that repeatedly tap public grants to grow through artificial intelligence while treating workers unfairly could face government intervention, said Minister of State for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55733,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dam.mediacorp.sg\/image\/upload\/s--Oundkc-A--\/c_crop,h_889,w_1582,x_0,y_14\/c_fill,g_auto,h_676,w_1200\/f_auto,q_auto\/v1\/mediacorp\/cna\/image\/2026\/05\/27\/screenshot_2026-05-27_152903.png?itok=9VxkZtOR","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1515,7477,35,4816,20282,311,22,1260,23563,4041],"class_list":["post-55732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-news-sg-global","tag-accept","tag-act","tag-firms","tag-grants","tag-jasmin","tag-lau","tag-singapore","tag-treating","tag-unfairly","tag-workers","wpcat-2-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}